Wherein The Stories Of Two Persons End
by 087-B
Summary: [One-Shot! Spoilers for The Giver!] A school project, where we had to each write our own ideas about what happened after the end of The Giver. Because practically 90% of the people I know wanted me to post this online, here you go; my take on the ending of The Giver. {Obvious AU, as this ending means Gathering Blue, Messenger, and a majority of the fourth book, Son, do not happen.}


**[SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ACTUAL END OF _THE GIVER_!]**

 **So... uh, this was actually a school project.**

 **My class and I had to read _The Giver_ and then write an extra chapter at the end to tackle what we thank happens after that cliffhanger of an ending. So, naturally, I went crazy with writing, and the end result was 22 pages, with about 5.6K+ words initially (before writing this Author's Note, of course), which is amazing in my opinion. This is the longest singular chapter (not a one shot) that I've ever written, surpassing my previous record of 4.9K words, so yay, achievements!**

 **So, with some persuasion from friends, I've decided to post this little one shot on my idea for the ending...and yes, I know there are three sequels to _The Giver_ , but our assignment was to create our own ending, and I think I've come up with one that fits.**

 **So, without further delay, please enjoy my take on a possible ending for _The Giver_.**

 **PS: You have to have at least read the book to know what's going on. If you're clueless about the plot of the book, I ain't answering any questions.**

* * *

"We… we made it, Gabe," Jonas said through labored breaths as he held the small child close to his chest. Gabe calmly murmured, holding on to Jonas' tunic. The house in front of them, with bright, beautifully colored lights and singing, muffled by the walls, coming from inside, had been there as if it were waiting for them. For a moment, Jonas didn't actually believe it to be real.

But it was, it was crafted of logs and had frost-covered four-paned windows, a door crafted of some kind of plank, possibly mahogany, with an iced-over golden doorknob. The triangular roof above was covered in snow, but what really had caught Jonas' eye was the rectangular structure, made of brick and topped with stone, that had emerged from it, spewing smoke out little by little every second.

The very unique brick structure would have to wait, though, Jonas thought. His main goal was getting Gabe to safety.

So he started towards the door.

The walk towards it felt like an eternity, every step closer feeling like the door kept getting farther, or Jonas kept getting slower and slower, as if some sort of ball and chain was holding him down, invisible hands pulling him back, anything to keep him from reaching the destination. The trip down the hill was merely the first step in reaching their terminal.

Gabe shivered along with Jonas. The two had completely forgotten about the cold for a moment, but now it was coming back to them, and it felt worse than it ever had. Jonas' vision blurred, and his eyes felt heavy, but he didn't want to pass out; rather, he couldn't, for Gabe's sake.

For a moment, Jonas was slightly worried they wouldn't make it, that Gabe wouldn't make it, and perhaps, such a thing was true. As his eyelids began to fall over his eyes, he shook himself, and decided he needed to catch the attention of whoever was inside the house.

He tried to shout, though his voice was hoarse. He couldn't throw any snow at the window; if he even tried to bend over to grab a handful of it, his legs would give way, and he would be out cold in a moment. He couldn't come up with anything, so he kept walking, waiting to fall over, and finally let death overcome him.

 _So it ends like this_ , Jonas thought.

It was then, however, that he felt a strange, final burst of energy, and he felt his legs gain enough strength to pick up in speed. He began running through the snow, huffing out more and more quick breaths, watching the white clouds of his own oxygen form in front of his mouth, before dispersing into the air. But the energy he received was far too little, and it was gone almost as soon as it came.

He was mere inches from the door before he finally gave in, falling over and slamming his head against it, creating a loud thump. His face was planted in the snowy doorstep as he lost consciousness, Gabriel wailing and shivering beneath him.

He heard a creaking of wood, a turning of some object, and the wooden door in front of him slid open, and then he went completely black.

* * *

A foreign and uncomfortable warmth overcame him, and Jonas' eyes fluttered open. He was staring upwards, looking at… wood. A ceiling. Something soft was beneath him. A red cushion, with golden frills surrounding it. To his left, a red cushioned backing. He was on a couch, with his head on a pillow, he thought. He tilted his head to his right, looking out into the room. His vision still remained blurry, but the things he could see and make out were very interesting, things he never thought he would see outside of his own memories he had received from the Giver so long ago.

A dark brown wooden table sat near a window in the far corner of the room, with a candelabra on it, all three of its waxy columns lit. A large tree, cone-shaped, decorated with lights and other things, sat beside it. It was beautiful. Other furniture, such as wooden tables and chairs, were placed about in the room. The floor was also made of a bright colored wood, but a part of it was blue, and looked very soft. Jonas searched through his memories, but he couldn't quite grasp a word to use to describe the strange flooring by name.

"M-Mommy! D-Daddy! The b-boy is awake!"

Jonas felt quite startled to hear a voice in the room. He hadn't seen any people in his initial scan. This time, he titled his head around until his vision finally became clear. He saw a boy, a rather short and somewhat stout one. His hair was a matted yellow color, and his eyes were a deep blue, a contrast to his own. His attire was very different than any he had seen before. He wore a blue shirt, the middle of it held together with buttons. The long sleeves were cuffed with white cylinders at the wrists, and a similarly colored collar also was around his neck. Short, gray trousers were on his legs, with small, shiny black shoes on his feet.

A woman and man entered the room next, from a door Jonas could not see, appearing quite shocked to see Jonas awakening. Their clothing looked as strange as the young boy's did. The woman had short, red hair, curled at the forehead and at the bottom around the nape of her neck. Golden rings on her ears shined in the light, and her lips were a vibrant scarlet, as if something had been applied. She had on a very sparkly red dress, one that remained thin all the way down to her shoes, which were, not to Jonas' surprise, also red, though the heels were raised a bit. Her whole attire looked… what was the word? Jonas couldn't quite grasp it yet…

Very tacky. That was it.

The man next to her had hair similar to the boy's, though it was brown. He wore black rimmed spectacles, and had small hairs under his nose and above his upper lip. Using a memory, Jonas knew this to be a 'mustache' of sorts. He had on a black suit overlapping a white shirt, and had on, around the collar of his white shirt, a black bowtie. Like the boy, he too had white, cylindrical cuffs at his wrists, though these had single buttons on them. His black pants matched his suit and went down to his shining black shoes. Jonas was beginning to notice a pattern.

Now, Jonas' mind wandered away from them, and he thought about Gabriel.

Where was Gabe?

"Oh my goodness!" The woman exclaimed. "Y-You're awake!"

"Young man," The man walked over to Jonas and knelt by him. "How are you feeling?"

Jonas' lips quivered. He felt too tired to talk, and he shivered, feeling cold again. But he had to know where Gabe was.

"... w-where…"

"Hmm?" The father was confused. "Where? Where are you? This is my family's house, we found you outside and brought you-"

"W-Where is G-Gabriel?" Jonas interrupted, shocking the family into silence. They appeared confused and frightened. "Th-The baby… his name is G-Gabriel…"

"Oh, the baby is alright," The mother spoke. "He's sleeping in the guestroom in a warm crib, don't you worry."

A small smile slowly formed on Jonas' face. "Thank you…" He stopped, unsure of what to call the woman.

"Mrs. Beauregarde," The woman replied.

"Mrs.? Beauregarde? What a strange name…" Jonas said. "You have two names?" They all were very confused.

"Two names?" The father asked in confusion, "My wife was addressing herself formally."

"Wife?" Jonas' received memories of families had grown faint, so he couldn't quite remember everything about the titles of a family.

"This boy is strange, mommy…" The young boy held onto his mother's arm.

"Forgive me for asking, but," Mrs. Beauregarde began, "why is it that you're asking us such strange questions? You know how family members are addressed, do you not?"

Something clicked in Jonas' head. This family wasn't a part of any sort of community governed by incredibly restricting laws. "I...I know, from faint memories...but the place I came from has outlawed these terms."

"Outlawed? You mean they are forbidden?" The father, Mr. Beauregarde, Jonas presumed, had asked.

"Where do you come from?" The boy asked.

It was time for Jonas to explain everything.

So he did. He told them everything, about the community, about the rules, about his family unit, the language, the consequences, the ceremonies, the process of release, the inability to see color, and lastly, the Giver. The family was interested, shocked, and a little bit confused, all at the same time, though they listened intently the whole way through.

"When I heard Gabe was going to be released… I had to get out of that place," Jonas finished. "We travelled far, and… in the end, we found your house."

Mr. Beauregarde smiled. "That place sounds awful. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want."

Jonas shook his head. "I'll be a burden… but please… take Gabriel. Keep him here."

"Nonsense," Mrs. Beauregarde shook her head. "You both are staying, you need to rest, and you're probably severely ill."

"Honey, please check his temperature," Mr. Beauregarde said. "I'll go prepare soup. Timothy, please check on the baby; Gabe, was it?"

Jonas nodded and smiled. "Thank you all… thank you all very much."

It was then he went through a strange process of painfully exempting spit and breath from his mouth. He was coughing. He was, indeed, sick.

"Ooh. Regina, dear, take him to the guestroom with Gabriel," Mr. Beauregarde placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. "He needs some rest."

"Yes, yes he does," Regina nodded in agreement. She turned to Jonas. "Come with me… you know, you never told us your name."

As he took Regina's hand and stood up carefully, he smiled. "Jonas."

* * *

That night in the guestroom, Jonas lay in a soft bed, staring at the ceiling and recollecting his thoughts. The room was simple; one bed, one dresser, one bedside table, one lamp, one window, one door to the living room outside, and one crib containing Gabriel. The only light that came into the room was the moonlight that came through the frosty window, and the candlelight that came from the slit beneath the door. Jonas looked to the right and smiled at Gabe, who looked up at him from the crib, smiling back.

"We've found a safe place, Gabe," Jonas said softly, before coughing again, making the newchild wince. "Don't worry about me, Gabe, I'll be fine."

Jonas looked back up at the ceiling again, thinking to himself.

 _What now? What lies ahead? What's in store for us?_

He thought many variations of the same sentence in his head, wondering what else to do until he fell asleep. But he felt too weak to do anything. It was strange, though, he felt a kind of weakness more… powerful than that of any he had felt before through memories. Maybe this was what it was like to feel serious, internal pain in the moment? It certainly felt more powerful than it did in the memories.

The more he thought about his received memories, the more he thought about the Giver. Jonas felt too saddened to know he would never see him again. He wondered how he was doing, if he was alright. What about the community? Were they alright? He had to admit, a little part of himself also missed his family unit and his friends. Though they didn't show any real emotion at all, he remembered. So for now, he was in the middle on missing them or not.

He hoped, though, that his memories would eventually reach them, and they would learn the truth, and reach for said truth instead of divulging into chaos.

And with that final hopeful thought in his mind, he smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Many days had passed, and Jonas remained alone in the guestroom with Gabe, and was only ever awake feeding Gabe, or sleeping off whatever pain he felt inside of him. Eventually, one day Gabe wailed momentarily. This caught the attention of the young Timothy, who walked into the room to see what the fuss was. Jonas was asleep and Gabe tearfully squirmed around in the crib. It took a moment for the boy to realize the baby was hungry.

So with his parents' help, he fed him, and he learned to do it by himself.

For the next few days, he was the one feeding Gabe, as Jonas wasn't awake as much. Regina had told her son that Jonas had come a long way and he needed a lot of rest, but still, Timothy wanted the boy to awaken and enjoy himself.

There was one day where Timothy exited the guestroom, carrying the empty, small bowl that held baby food in it minutes earlier, and was called over by his parents to the kitchen counter.

"You don't have to keep feeding Gabe, Timothy. Jonas can do it himself," Regina reminded her son.

Mr. Beauregarde shook his head. "Regina, let the boy learn, he needs to if he ever wants a kid when he grows older."

"Walter, please, Gabriel has more trust in Jonas than he does us. They've been together through a lot just to get here," Regina interrupted.

"But mommy, daddy, I wanna help out!" Timothy frowned.

"And you can help," Walter nodded. "I'd say it's a good thing that you're helping take care of young Gabriel."

"Why yes it is, but it's still Jonas' job to take care of that baby," Regina rebuttled. "They aren't ours."

They continued talking while Timothy walked off in silence, leaving his parents to calmly argue over who should take care of Gabe. He walked into the guest room and quietly closed the door behind him, sitting down on the floor against a wall and waiting for Jonas to wake up.

Were he to do nothing but sit there, he would be there for a very long time.

* * *

The Community was in an uproar for a short time, and it fell into silence almost as soon as the memories came. Very few people left their dwellings, family units seldom spoke with each other, and the Chief Elder no longer held ceremonies, let alone spoke out at all anymore. Nobody knew what to do next, all of this new knowledge seemed to be too much for many of them to comprehend.

However, the many memories that divided up among everyone gave them all new things to try out; some good, some bad.

Lily absentmindedly twiddled her thumbs, something she had never done. But a memory that wandered into her head made her picture a young child doing so, and now it had become a habit of hers during the Uproar. She could also see differently, now. Her whole world changed. It had become more...vibrant, more lively.

The memories allowed her to perceive a new word; color.

She liked looking around and seeing these 'colors'. They were beautiful. Apples went from a dull shade to a rosy red, the grass had turned a brilliant green, and even the water in the river had turned to blue.

She never saw any of these things anymore, though. Mother and Father wouldn't let her outside of the dwelling.

Emotions had come, too. She felt something strange; sadness, she suddenly knew. She...missed. Missed something, or felt like she should be. What did she miss? What was it to miss something? It was a different kind of miss, not the kind where you don't catch a ball in a game, but...more of an internal wanting of something lost.

Recently, they had indeed lost something, or rather, someone.

"I…" Lily began silently in her dwelling while Mother and Father sat in silence on two seats. "I miss Jonas."

Mother's head slowly turned to face her, emotionless. "Precision of language, Lily. We do not miss things."

"Mother, I'm being precise," Lily retorted. "I _miss_ Jonas."

"No you do not, you are not used to Jonas' presence being absent from our dwelling," Father shook his head, 'correcting' the young girl. "If you were to say-"

"Father," Lily sternly looked at the man. "I. Miss. Jonas."

The two looked at her in silence, unsure of what to say. They simply stood up and walked upstairs, leaving Lily alone with the memories.

Her missing of Jonas compelled her to follow them upstairs, but instead of going into her room, she walked into Jonas'. Inside, the room was dark and untouched from when Jonas once inhabited it. Lily looked around and was surprised at how many shades of blue the room was. What colors were her room?

That thought left her mind as soon as she noticed something out of the ordinary in the room. There, on the desk parallel to the door, was a piece of white paper. Normally, pieces of paper in the community were never left open and unattended, always put away somewhere. So what was this one doing here?

Lily slowly approached the desk in the eerie, darkened silence. She carefully took hold of the paper and started to read it.

It was a single slip of paper, and on it were Jonas' rules.

Lily looked around before she started reading over the rule sheet. It was normally forbidden to share the rules of any assignment with anyone, though technically, she wasn't being shown this by Jonas, right? She had only found the sheet and began reading it out of curiosity.

There were eight rules, all of them very specific and demanding of what Jonas could, couldn't, or had to do. Many of them surprised her, though the last one kept her attention the most.

 _8\. You may lie._

This final rule made her question all of the things Jonas had told her and the family unit, what he had told his friends, what he had said to everyone he had talked with in the community. She wanted answers, no, she _needed_ answers. She felt like she deserved to know what really happened to Jonas.

 _I know he wasn't lost_ , Lily thought.

Then, she decided to travel to see the one place that would reveal to her Jonas' fate.

She left her dwelling in the direction of the Annex.

* * *

The entire walk was quiet, as the community was entirely barren outside of the dwellings. Very few people went outside of their homes after the Uproar, but now, never did anyone step foot outside. Lily had been the first to do so after the event.

The stone-paved walkways were stained with occasional blotches of red, as were a few trees and the walls of some dwellings. One walkway had its stone pavement completely torn up, revealing mud underneath. Lily walked slowly, looking around at the silent, empty community. Not that there was much else to see, other than the occasional carnage that was a result of the Uproar.

She could see, on occasion, someone glance out of a dwelling window at her, but nobody ever came outside to greet her, stop her, or do anything involving her.

The walk was rather… boring.

Lily decided to take a look inside the House of the Old. She was unaware of its state after the Uproar, and she wondered how the Old were doing.

One look inside, and she instantly made a run for the Annex.

The large, wooden door lay on the grass, completely torn from its hinges. It was chipped severely around the edge, and it, too, was partially coated in red stains, with more prominent stains around the sharper edges. Lily stared at it for a moment before she stepped through the gaping opening and into the small lobby that separated the Annex from the rest of the community. Lily gasped in horror as she looked behind a small, stone counter to find a limp female, sprawled out on the cold, stone floor, unmoving. Her clothing and the floor beneath her were, unsurprisingly, stained red, and she had a rather large cut going straight down her back, as if something sharp had been stuck in her and slowly dragged down, cutting the body open.

Lily looked at the limp female in silence and slight disgust, before she turned and walked into the darkness, finding her way down a long stairwell at the end of a short corridor. Every step she took felt different. Some stairs were thin, some were thick, some were tall, others were short. She stumbled a bit, trying to find… balance. Acquiring balance had never been a necessity for her, but now, she needed it more than ever.

Then, she heard a sound, a faint one, an unfamiliar one. It sounded… she didn't have a word for it. The sound didn't stop, it went on for some time, and when it finally did come to an end, it started back up again, back at the beginning.

Curious, Lily continued down the steps.

A faint, dimmed light appeared a little further down, and upon seeing it, Lily quickened her pace, not missing a step at all this time. The light slowly became closer, but not anymore brighter. The light was emitting from the left, so Lily couldn't make out anything beyond the small glimmer.

 _What is down there?_ , she thought.

Finally, Lily reached the bottom platform, and she turned to look into the room that gave off the light.

It was large, glorious, spacious, filled with wooden shelves containing stacks upon stacks of variously colored books, cushioned chairs with tables, stacks of papers on said tables, speakers and buttons and other mechanisms on one wall, and a singular, small bed, resting against the far wall.

There, in the center of the room, sitting in a chair that seemed to be made up nothing but soft padding, was a rather strange man, one Lily had never seen before. His head, slightly balding, had some hair on it that connected down at the chin, continuing to go down, hanging in front of his chest. He was also dressed in a completely jet-black robe; such attire wasn't worn by anyone in the community. The sound that Lily had heard became louder, as it had come from this room, and it seemed to be coming from him. She slowly entered the room, not saying anything, as she began walking down another set of stairs, a spiral one, keeping her eyes fixated on the strange man. She reached the main floor, and began approaching him slowly.

Before Lily could ask a question, "It's called whistling."

"Huh?" Lily was confused, and a bit startled.

"The noise you hear," The man stated again. "It's called whistling. People used to do it from time to time out of boredom, though this was generations back and back and back…"

Lily noticed the man zone out for a moment, before she decided to start asking her own questions. "Who… who are you?"

"The rule sheet you read calls me the Receiver of Memory, but such a title has been given away more than enough times," The man turned towards Lily slowly, smiling. "Call me the Giver, young Lily."

Lily stepped back a bit this time, catching her breath as a barely audible gasp escaped her throat, her eyes widening. "How… do you know my name?"

The Giver chuckled. "I know everything about everyone. After the Uproar… I've had quite a bit of time to do some reading in the Hall of Closed Records. Though I've known about you for a while now, through Jonas."

"Jonas talked about me, then, to you?" Lily questioned further, stepping towards the Giver once more.

"Yes, he brought you up many times, along with the rest of your family unit, and young Gabe," The Giver responded.

The mention of Gabe brought a small smile to Lily's face momentarily. "Oh, Gabriel, it was sad that he got released, but at least he's in Elsewhere."

The Giver looked at her for a moment, wearing an expression of deep thought on his face. "I see… you do not know, do you?"

"I don't know? Don't know what?" Lily was even more curious this time.

"Gabriel wasn't ever released," The Giver gave Lily some new, rather shocking information.

"He wasn't?" Lily tilted her head. "Where is he?"

"With Jonas," The Giver replied.

Lily looked down sadly. "Oh… so he was lost, too?"

"No, he was not," The Giver shook his head. "Neither was Jonas."

Lily's head shot up to face the Giver, her expression beaming. "Th-They're not lost? Where are they?"

"Not in the community,"

"So… they _were_ lost?" Lily was more confused than she'd ever been.

The Giver shook his head again. "No… they escaped."

Lily remained silent, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. "Escaped… you mean they… left?"

"Yes, they both left," The Giver nodded, standing up and approaching the girl. "After hearing of Gabriel's inevitable release… he needed to take action. I helped him escape, so that his memories would come back to the community, the memories he had received. He hoped people would learn, but instead..."

"The results were… less than what Jonas hoped for," Lily finished the Giver's sentence for him. "The Uproar happened because of the memories, then."

"That is correct," The Giver nodded again, and the two fell silent once more.

Then, Lily spoke up again. "Why was Jonas chosen as the Receiver?"

The Giver thought for a moment. "That… is a question with no definite answer, but I can give you my thoughts, if you'd like."

Lily nodded, and the Giver took her to two seats facing each other. They sat in them, sitting across from each other, as the Giver began his explanation.

"The ability to 'See Beyond' is an interesting, rather unique trait… that very few people have nowadays, but everyone is born with it-"

"You mean everyone can 'See Beyond'? Even me?" Lily interrupted with a question.

"Not anymore, no," The Giver answered. "I'm afraid nobody can, really."

"Why?" Lily asked another question.

"I was getting to that," The Giver smiled at her curiosity. "Everyone is born with the trait, as I've said before, but as people have aged, a sort of… mental barrier began to form, leaving them blind to the ability to see the truth. Others, however, have had the barrier fail to form, leaving them open to receive the truth. The shade of the eyes was how the Elders were able to determine who could 'See Beyond'... the darker eyes are a result of the barriers forming completely, and Jonas' and Gabriel's paler eyes were a sign of a lack of any sort of barrier."

"That explains his weird eyes…" Lily thought out loud to herself.

The Giver continued. "Very few people have no barriers, and among the few were Jonas and Gabe, of course. Though, the Elders selected Jonas earlier than planned, as his barrier was finally starting to form, and he wouldn't have been able to receive any memories, but I was able to halt the progress, keeping the barrier from ever forming anymore… however, as a result, the small parts of the mental barrier that still existed within him allowed his memories to slip out, and as you can see, this past week have been very… eventful."

The girl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, super eventful."

The Giver spoke once more. "So, Jonas became the new Receiver early in order to preserve his ability to receive, and if Jonas were to actually be lost, Gabriel would've been able to take on the role of Receiver afterwards."

"Why Gabe, though? Why not some other newchild?" The Nine asked.

"While new children are born with no barrier, not all of them are born with the capacity to hold all of the memories they would receive in training. Gabriel was among the few who held such a capacity.

"However, even after all of that," The Giver paused, nearing the end of his long theory. "I could very well still be wrong."

"I think you could be right," Lily said. "I mean… well, yeah… I think you're right."

"Thank you, Lily," The Giver smiled.

Lily smiled back before she had a quick flash of realization. "Wait, how did you know I found you by reading Jonas' rule sheet?"

"Lucky guess," The Giver chuckled. "That, and how else would you be able to find where I live?"

"Oh, that makes sense," Lily replied. "I'm sorry for asking such an unnecessary question."

The Giver held up his hand. "No need to apologize, no question is ever unnecessary. Questions have answers, and answers teach us, do they not?"

"They do," Lily smiled again. "Can you teach me more things? Even after… all the memories… I still want to learn."

The Giver thought, long and hard, before he finally came up with an idea. "Lily, tell me… out of all the memories you've received, do you know of snow?"

"Snow?" The word was quite new to Lily.

The Giver smiled warmly. "Give me your hands, Lily."

The girl hesitated for a moment, though she slowly placed her small, frail hands in the Giver's palms. "What's going to happen…?"

"Close your eyes and focus," The Giver told her.

"But-"

"Lily, close your eyes… and _focus_ ," The Giver gave her a serious and somewhat commanding look.

Lily did so, and almost instantly, the Giver gripped her hands tightly. She wanted to pull away, when suddenly, the warmth from her body vanished entirely, replaced with a series of chills. She opened her eyes, and she was standing outside, a top a tall mass of land; a hill, she suddenly knew. Falling from the sky, landing on the trees and the grass. It was white. She suddenly knew this to be… snow. She looked around, and saw, over the horizon, snow-topped trees stretching for miles across the landscape. In front of her, partially buried in the snow, was a red, wooden board.

"It's… it's a sled," Lily said to herself, realizing that she was learning the new terminology as time went on.

Her attire changed; she wore a knit hat, and a thick, fluffy coat, both of which were brown, as well as thick black pants and brown boots that kept her feet warm. _Wind_ blew against her face, and she felt the snow, _snowflakes_ , land on her nose. She smiled, beginning to walk forwards, approaching the sled in the snow.

She pulled it out of the snow mound it was wedge in and placed it at the edge of the hill. Without a single moment of hesitation, she sat on it and gripped the rope attached to it, then she pushed the sled forward.

* * *

"That was so much fun!" Lily exclaimed, having returned to the Annex moments later. "Was that… was that… oh, what to say, what _was_ that?"

The Giver smiled and chuckled again, watching the ecstatic girl look around in awe. "I've given you the memory of snow, Lily."

"You… you gave me a memory…?" Lily gasped. "I can receive? Oh my goodness, I can receive!"

"Lily, everyone can receive," The Giver explained. "I just choose who _should_ receive."

"So… what does that mean?" Lily asked. "Can I have another memory of snow? Pretty please?"

"Now now, Lily, not all at once," The Giver explained. "I wanted to show you one of the happier memories of centuries back."

"That wooden thing-oh, what was it called-the sled! Right!" Lily clasped her hands together. "It was so… colorful! A deep, beautiful red!"

"So you can see color, then?" The Giver asked.

Lily nodded. "I love looking at all the colors; the books, they're every color!"

"Yes they are, that's why I have them, aside from gaining knowledge from them," The Giver explained. "Now, I'd like to pass on that knowledge to you."

"To… to me?"

"Yes, Lily," The Giver nodded in conformation. "I would like you to be the new Receiver."

Lily was astounded, feeling honored to be the new Receiver.

But she couldn't replace Jonas.

"If Jonas is still out there somewhere, then I can't take his place," Lily crossed her arms and looked away.

The Giver frowned somewhat. "Lily, even if Jonas were still in this world, he wouldn't be able to come back, else even more chaos would ensue."

"But why can't he come back and explain everything?" Lily inquired.

"He's already been gone for a long while, and he's put quite the distance between the community and where he is now," The Giver explained. "I'm afraid he won't ever return."

Lily frowned until the Giver placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"Lily, listen," The Giver began. "We've lost many members of the community due to the Uproar. The streets are stained with their blood. The community is going through adjustments. You understand that, right?"

Lily shuddered, but she nodded. "Y-Yes… I do."

"Good," The Giver continued. "Know this; through these hard times, we can reform."

"Can we?" Lily asked. "Can we really? We can go back to how things once were?"

The Giver chuckled yet again. "Be a little more specific."

"I mean not like the rules, but before that; what the memories teach us!" Lily exclaimed. "Can we go back to that?"

The Giver smiled in silence. "That is a possibility, Lily. I have a feeling we can try."

"Yay! We can teach Mother, and Father, and Asher, and Fiona, and the Chief Elder, and-"

"Calm, Lily, calm. We teach our few remaining members one at a time," The Giver said, squeezing the girl's shoulder slightly. "Are you prepared to receive memories?"

Lily nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes I am! I want to see what life was like… before! Like, way before everything else I've seen!"

The Giver sat back in his chair and took Lily's hands. "Then let us get started."


End file.
